Sunday, March 28, 2010

Proof that There Is Plenty to Say

One of our role models referred us to this monumental interview w/ Anthony Braxton. Anyone who believes Braxton when he says he is not interested in entertaining, has been sorely mislead. But then that's the all about it of trickery, isn't it.

Some chestnuts from the path of the interview:

"I am merely a student of music. ...I am forty years old in this period, and I have been able to discover many things, but I cannot believe how ignorant I am."

"I'd like to [record] 5,000, 10,000 records. ...Why not?"

"I was fortunate to not be flexible."

"My motto was always play or die, so either way I'd win."

"I had to find some way to partition variables so I didn't repeat myself."

"I have always seen my music visually. I have always seen my music in terms of shapes and colors."

"In 1966, I decided not to name my music 'The Sun Comes over the Mountain,' or 'Braxton's Blues.' So rather than give the compositions verbal titles, ....I would move to express a visual title that would express the operatives of a give composition."

"I started in the middle, and moved forward and backward at the same time."

On the on hand, Anthony Braxton is widelydocumented. On the other hand, he is as obscure the unrecorded music of the 1880s. Riddle me this.